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FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., is calling on his state to join the growing fight over the country’s congressional maps – with eyes on the one Democrat in his delegation.
Norman told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that he wants the South Carolina General Assembly to redraw its district lines, which he argued is more in line with the Palmetto State’s Republican majorities in the statehouse and state Senate.
“We have Republican supermajorities in South Carolina. Let’s use them to create more competition in our congressional seats. I have no doubt Republicans can be successful in every part of our state,” Norman said.
Norman, who is running for governor, said that would make South Carolina’s seats in the House of Representatives “more competitive” and that it would “move our House delegation from 6-1 to 7-0.”
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“That will help increase Republican control of Congress and help President Trump pass his agenda. Every vote counts toward a conservative Speaker Mike Johnson rather than a liberal Speaker Hakeem Jeffries of New York City,” Norman said.
And while he did not give further details about how he’d want that map to look, he did mention the lone Democrat, longtime Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., by name.
“Jim Clyburn is a nice man and I respect him. But he is a liberal Democrat who helped put Joe Biden in the White House,” Norman said. “That’s not the kind of representation South Carolina needs.”
Clyburn is indeed a close ally of former President Joe Biden. His support was critical to Biden winning the 2020 Democratic primary in South Carolina, a victory that was decisive in putting Biden at the front of the crowded race.
He’s also represented South Carolina’s 6th congressional district since 1993.
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The 6th congressional district was first gerrymandered to give Black South Carolinians greater representation in the early 1990s, resulting in the only majority-Black district in the state.
South Carolina’s congressional map has seen some partisan fighting in recent years, however.
In 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that said a Republican-led redraw of district lines unfairly diluted Black voters’ power, primarily in South Carolina’s 1st congressional district, which neighbors Clyburn’s.
The high court’s conservative majority ruled 6-3 that the district was redrawn along partisan lines, rather than racial, and therefore could be legally upheld.
Redistricting is traditionally done following the U.S. census, which is taken every decade, to account for population shifts in various states.
Norman’s call to redraw the lines again comes after Texas Republicans’ push to create a new congressional map that would give the GOP as many as five new seats in the House of Representatives.
It’s ignited a political firestorm across the country, with liberal states like New York and California pledging to follow suit.
There are now discussions in multiple states about potentially redrawing district lines as well.
Fox News Digital reached out to Clyburn’s campaign for comment, as well as representatives in the South Carolina General Assembly.
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